Biomarker electrochemical testing constantly demands greater degrees of sensitivity and specificity. Specifically, medical conditions that require point of care testing like diabetes are increasing in prevalence in the United States. With increasing demand, the market requires high quality tests that cost less to produce. One approach to this problem is utilizing highly ordered nanomaterials. The use of mesoporous carbon electrodes has shown to produce a remarkable increase in the sensitivity and the specificity of electrochemical testing.
Nanoparticles and nano-scale structures have become a cornerstone of point of care testing. Nanoparticles can be conjugated to enzymes to alter the frequency at which they are best detected, while mesoporous materials have been used as electrodes for detecting small molecules like glucose, uric acid, lactate, and other similar molecules. Carbon electrodes are cheap and effective ways of producing electrochemical sensors for biochemical detection. Alteration of the structure of the carbon in these electrodes allows for more accurate detection.
Creating tailored mesoporous materials is a step forward to achieving a higher degree of sensitivity and level of detection. It has been demonstrated that the type of material used to detect has a significant effect on the performance of the sensor. These results show that mesoporous silica outperformed a mesoporous carbon electrode for the detection of ascorbic acid, uric acid, and xanthine. Although mesoporous carbon out performs silica for the detection of lactate and glucose, it is not sufficient to merely control the physical features of the mesoporous materials, they must be tailored specifically to the analyte trying to be detected. Therefore, there is a need for creating tailored materials that may provide a higher degree of sensitivity and level of detection than is conventionally available.